THE HUNGER GAMES: AFTERMATH

The Wedding

KATNISS

I open my eyes and lay still for a while. I stare at the ceiling, contemplating. About what, I'm not sure. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I could almost hear my steady heart beat, and I feel a surge of calmness overpower me.

I am Katniss Everdeen. Today is the day I'm going to marry Peeta Mellark.

I repeat these basic facts inside my head for about five, six, seven times. Not that it isn't sinking in, it's just that somehow, it's all I could ever think about at this moment.

Never have I imagined that I would marry the boy who was my last hope when I had none. How many times have I seen him in school and avoided his gaze? How many times have I passed their bakery, secretly searching for him? How many times have we welcomed the possibility of our own deaths just to make the other safe? How many times have I denied that I have feelings for him, only to find myself running back to him over and over again? I have never been able to shake off my connection with this boy, and maybe I wasn't meant to.

My first encounter with him was at the lowest point of my life. My father just died, and I was left with a sick mother and a little sister who needs to be taken care of and fed. He took a beating just to be able to give me those loaves of bread. Our official meeting didn't have a perfect timing either, because back then we were both thrown into The Games to kill each other. Only we didn't. We refused to become just a piece of the Capitol's Games. You see, all the circumstances that brought us together were not very good and that's the reason that I couldn't get my head around the fact that I have feelings for him too. Only when I thought I lost him made me realize that I am in love with him, I was just a coward to admit it.

Peeta and I have two options on how to get married. The first one, we could opt to do just the traditional toasting of bread, if we're fine with paperless marriage. The second one, we could go to the Justice Building, and the wedding will be presided by the mayor. We will be given a certificate after the ceremony as proof of our marriage. Peeta and I chose to do both.

Part of the District Twelve tradition, aside from the toasting ceremony, is that the groom is not allowed to see the bride the day before the wedding. This is the reason why I am left alone here in my room. If it was an ordinary day, I would've woken up with him by my side. Perhaps some people would question our morality, but really, I'm not the type of person who tries so hard to please everyone. And it's not like we do things we're not supposed to. It's just that Peeta keeps my nightmares away, and on his part, having me beside him allows him to get a grip on reality.

Surprisingly enough, the nightmares didn't come last night. I smiled to myself. Maybe this is it. Maybe, just maybe, Peeta and I could finally be happy. I always thought, all these years living with Peeta, that happiness is just around the corner. It was there in the sidelines, but we were always too afraid to let it in. Now, our wounds have healed, and finally, it is here. Happiness.

We have been through so much together and apart, and we are fortunate enough to still be standing strong. I almost lost the boy with the bread not only once, and I am determined not to let that happen again.

I didn't know how we exactly grew back together, because when he came back to District Twelve, I was practically in a zombie state. I was alive, but not really living at all. Haymitch had given up coaxing me to go out and hunt. But who could blame me? My sister was killed, my mother disappeared on me again. The only consolation for me is that, she did not disappear into her world of sadness. She translated her grief into charity. Not forcing her to go back to this place, it was the least I could do for her.

I spent my nights awake, afraid of the monsters in my head. The nightmares were killing me slowly, if not driving me crazy. Images of the dead tributes, the friends I lost in both The Games and the revolution, Prim, exploding bombs...it was too much for me. I spent my days sleeping, and that is if I'm not curled up crying in a random corner.